"Stay on the spot before I blow your head off!"
'Welp, there goes the sneaky-sneaky tactic of mine,' Yang Zhang thought.
He raised his hands above his head but said nothing until he waited for the second command from the old man holding a gun behind him.
"Okay, what's your name, and why are you sneaking on us?" The old man said, still with his gun pointing at Yang Zhang's head.
"My name is Ash Ketchup, and I.. uh… I heard the gunshot and walked here to find the source!" Yang Zhang said, hoping that would make it clear and the old man would put down his shotgun.
But what he got was even worse. Yang Zhang felt the cold muzzle of the shotgun touch the back of his head, "Do you think I will believe that?"
"U—Uncle, please put down the gun. Let's have a civil conversation!" Yang Zhang begged. He was sweating all over because the gun muzzle really scared the hell out of him.
"Besides, it's not nice to threaten someone like this? Do you know about gun control?" Yang Hang asked, trying to prolong his life.
"Heh, we're in the apocalypse, kiddo. There is no gun control bullshit here. And I don't have to play nice to someone who sneaked around me. Who knows, you might want to ambush my friend and me when we're unguarded," the old man said. He cocked the hammer off the shotgun, ready to fire.
"You know, kid. I'm just one click away from blowing your brains out. You should probably use your ability now to escape," the old man said.
"U—Uncle, I… I don't have any ability," Yang Zhang said truthfully. He thought it would make the old man less hostile.
But it changed nothing, and the old man commented, "Do you think I will believe that? There is no normal human outside in the wild. They are all lab rats now. I suggest you use your ability now, or you'll be finished."
Yang Zhang felt his heart was beating out so loud right now. He could feel that his pets were already moving around in his pocket. They were ready to attack the old man behind as long as Yang Zhang commanded them.
But Yang Zhang expected the old man must've had his finger on the trigger, and if he made a sudden move, then the old man could pull the trigger and kill him instantly.
They were in this stall situation until Yang Zhang heard a rustle from behind and then voices of two people, "Hey, Uncle, we got the pig—Wait."
"Uncle, who is this guy? And why are you pointing your gun at him? That's not nice."
"Yeah, that's not nice!"
"Aish, you two, shut up! This guy has been tailing us from the woods. He must've been into something!"
"What is he into anyway? All we have is these guns."
"Yeah, Uncle, there is nothing that he could rob from us! We're just regular humans anyway."
"Eh?" Yang Zhang looked over his shoulder and saw the two young men arguing before. "You guys are regular humans?"
"Yeah."
"Mhm."
"Aish! Shut up! Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone about our identity!?" The old man reprimanded the two young men.
"Hey, I'm also a regular human! I'm a human with immunity, I swear!" Yang Zhang said this was the first time he ever saw a group of humans with immunity in the wild!
"Really? Whoa, we found a new kid!"
"Uncle, let's bring him to the village!"
"You two—" the old man sighed and put his gun down. "You guys have no vigilance! Do you know what would happen if the government saw us!?"
"What would they do anyway? They already have so many lab rats!"
"Yeah!"
…
The old man glared at Yang Zhang, "You—if you are truly a human with immunity, that means you also have the immunity to eat any mutated plant and animal."
The old man took out a small fruit from his pocket and handed it to Yang Zhang, "Eat this, and prove that you're really the one with immunity like the rest of us."
Yang Zhang turned around and stared at the fruit in the old man's hand. He hesitated when he saw the fruit's shape. It was like an apple, but there were black seeds all around like a strawberry, and it was purple-colored.
Yang Zhang gulped. He never actually ate something as strange as this, and even though he knew he was immune to the virus and all things infected by the virus, he didn't know if this fruit was poisonous or not.
"How could I know if this is poisonous or not?" Yang Zhang asked vigilantly.
The old man was stunned, and he scoffed, "You have more vigilance than these two dumbos behind me. Fine, let me show you."
The old man ate the purple apple and munching for a while. He opened his mouth after chewing the fruit, showing that he ate it without any side effect, clearing the poison suspicion.
"See? This is just a mutated apple," the old man said. He looked at the young man beside him and commanded, "Give him your apple. Let's see if he can eat it. Any mutated plant or animal will be a deadly poison for any ability user."
"Catch!" The young man threw the same apple from his pocket to Yang Zhang. "Don't worry, my friend. It's not poisonous for humans with immunity!"
Yang Zhang caught the purple apple with black seeds in the skin. He glanced at the men in front of him and took a bit slowly.
Yang Zhang started munching until he swallowed the fruit.
One second…
Two seconds…
Three seconds…
No change.
"Okay, so you really are a human with immunity," the old man said. He looked a lot friendlier after Yang Zhang proved his identity. "My name is Fei Mu, and these two are my nephews—"
"Fei Baoyan!"
"Fei Ningyan!"
"We are all normal humans with immunity living in a settlement not far from here," the old man said. He stared at Yang Zhang for a second and asked, "So, what's your real name, Ash Ketchup?"